Philippines urges Canada to continue supply of wheat

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is asking Canada to encourage its licensed grain facilities to continue exporting wheat to the country to ensure local supply.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar made the request to Canadian Ambassador Peter MacAthur in a recent meeting.

“During the meeting, Secretary Dar urged Ambassador MacArthur to continuously advocate for undisrupted flow of trade of key commodities to address the impact of stagflation,” the DA said.

Dar asked MacArthur for assistance to encourage the Canadian licensed-grain facilities to continue their export to the Philippines to ensure supply of wheat to the Philippines amid competition from other importing countries.

Canada is the country’s third largest source of wheat imports following the US and Ukraine.

Last year,  the country imported a total of 77.81 million kilos of wheat for human consumption from Canada.

The DA said while there is no hoarding of wheat in Canada, farmers are holding onto high-protein wheat to blend with any potentially lower-protein wheat they will produce in 2022.

“Due to the increasing wheat prices brought by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and drought in North America, Canada is foreseen as a last market resort for price-conscious countries,” the DA said.

In a report last month, the United States Department of Agriculture- Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) said  global production of wheat is seen to reach 775 million metric tons (MT) next year, four million MT lower than  the previous year.

“The largest cut to production is in Ukraine, which is projected to have a crop one-third smaller than the prior year with reduced harvested area and lower yields due to the ongoing war with Russia,” the USDA said earlier.

Apart from wheat, MacArthur encouraged the DA and the private sectors to explore the Canadian market as a potential source of canola meal for animal feeds, processed animal protein PAP meal for aquacultures, and live animals at cheaper and competitive prices.

Meanwhile, the DA also acknowledged and extended its appreciation for the robust collaboration among Canadian and Philippine universities in the areas of veterinary and crop science.

It said there are several areas for future technical cooperation between the two countries in relation to agriculture.

Among these are the digitalization of agriculture, adoption of climate-smart and green technology, crop insurance, precision agriculture, food processing, and professionalization of farm workers, particularly in capacitating the country’s dairy farms in business management and production.

The DA also looks forward to participate in the negotiation of the ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement to ensure that the Philippine food and agriculture sector reaps the maximum benefit of trade liberalization, empower small- and medium- scale enterprises to participate in the global value chain, and attract investments in dairy solutions and technology, irrigation infrastructures, renewable energy for agriculture machineries, among others,” the DA added.